He promptly walked to the room's alley of offensive linemen and confirmed it for himself.

The hush-hush of it all was nearly lost with wide receiver Malcom Floyd's wide-eyed reaction.

"Are you serious?" he said, his raised volume lowering as he began to piece it together. "Ohh, they're from the same place: Pensacola, Fla. Ah, gee, that's cool; that's crazy. They've got a good gene in the family — the NFL gene."

It has been nearly eight months since the draft, and only two games remain this season. Still, it will be news to many Chargers players that two family members are in their company.

When it comes to their family ties, the cousins might as well be twins.

Ladarius, less than an hour after being selected in the fourth round, was asked in an April media conference call what his early reaction was to be headed to San Diego. He discussed the opportunity to learn behind Antonio Gates.

No mention of Tyronne.

And Tyronne has been especially coy, raising his arms and motioning his hands downward this week, saying they're keeping it "low key."

But the quiet bond between the two is indisputably there.

Tyronne has helped usher Ladarius along, offering him the advice of staying out of trouble, managing his money and to keep plugging away for his number to be called. They've been spotted walking off the practice field together, laughing it up with the bulk of their teammates none the wiser to the background.

Dante Rosario, a fellow tight end of Ladarius, was asked Thursday if he knew the teammates were cousins.

"No idea," he said.

Leading up to the draft, the Green family entertained this scenario.

It was a "wouldn't it be something?" thought that Ladarius might enter the NFL and join someone whom he'd lived about 20 minutes apart from, someone he shared a childhood of holidays with, someone about the same age of his older brother, Walter, and someone who attended rival Woodham High while they rose through the levels of Booker T. Washington High.

Then, it happened.

"She was really excited," Walter said of their mother, "one that he made it to the draft and went as high as he did and then, on top of that, that he was with family. You can't beat family."

The cousins are in different stages of their Chargers career.

This is a developmental year for Ladarius. This is a contract year for Tyronne, which naturally clouds his future in San Diego.

But Ladarius isn't the only one going through transition.

The Chargers, at 5-9, are finishing out their first losing season since 2003.

"Shoot, I'm trying to get through it myself, too," Tyronne said. "It's not like we've been losing since I've been here. It's different. It's been tough. We're going through it together."